Oolite Bulletins

Why not make the energy bomb an EMP charge that will disable all ships in range for 1 minute or so?

pagroove wrote:

Why not make the energy bomb an EMP charge that will disable all ships in range for 1 minute or so?

We had thought about doing this, but it was decided that it was getting too complicated for the scope of the next stable release, so it did not proceed. The energy bomb will remain as is until the MNSR.

I sometimes use a Oohaul transport and the energy bomb is the only weapon they can take so they will be even more challenging soon.

Thargoid wrote:

That is however another idea I can add to my list

I hope my 'seismic charge' idea is on there?

Admittedly, it would be a very 'exotic' weapon.

allikat wrote:

I did notice a bug with e-bombs in 1.73.4... e-bombs shouldn't give you bountys or kill ratings, and they give you bounty at the very least.
That was always supposed to be the downside of the e-bomb, cost and not getting any elite rating or bounty from the kills...

I don't remember that from Elite. I am pretty sure that energy bombs always gave you both kills and bounties.

I think it would be fair if neither the E-bomb or Q-weapons awarded kills.

The E-bomb, for me, is a weapon of last resort; for when you're out of fuel and/or the injector is broken, you're down to the last energy bank, the station aegis is still very far away, and things are looking grim. In that situation the E-bomb is a bacon saver. The alternative is being quick with the eject handle, or the remloc.

Triggering it any other time when you're in shape to fight your way out (or light the injectors and flee) is a cheapshot, and you shouldn't get a magic boost to the combat rating for a one-button instakill of every ship around you smaller than an Anaconda. Or bloody everything period, in the case of Q-weapons.

Thargoid wrote:

Not at the moment, as I don't much like the idea of a 2D weapon in 3D space. It doesn't make much sense to be honest.

Yeah, I think the handwavium I heard from Star Wars fans was something along the line of, the seismic charge is a 2D terrestrial weapon hastily modified for space for the element of surprise: no ships would have a built-in defence against a planet-based weapon - so it's just the kind of trick a famous bounty hunter would use.

I only mentioned it because people were complaining about the unbalanced nature of the E-Bomb. A customized planetary device like that would require more skill and tact to use.

Thargoid wrote:

... as they use ship's energy and drain your energy banks down to 1 bar when fired. But the more energy you have and "donate" to them, the more damage or chance of effect they do.

Sounds good. Are they close to completion?

Thargoid wrote:

I know what you mean, but technically a seismic charge (as in the real thing) is just an explosive charge, and therefore 3D.

…and an explosive charge in space, by itself, has absolutely no value as a weapon because there’s nothing for a shockwave to propagate through.

Ahruman wrote:

…and an explosive charge in space, by itself, has absolutely no value as a weapon because there’s nothing for a shockwave to propagate through.

I'm aware of that (I assume most people on this forum have this site bookmarked ), I think I shouldn't have referenced the seismic charge from Star Wars, since it sounds like that is what I was calling my idea.